The Collected Works of Thomas Middleton

John Jowett, Deputy Director of the Shakespeare Institute, is an Associate General Editor of this Project.

The Collected Works brings together for the first time in a single volume all the works currently attributed to Middleton. The texts are printed in modern spelling and punctuation, with critical introductions and foot-of-the-page commentaries; they are arranged in chronological order, with a special section of Juvenilia. The volume is introduced by essays on Middleton's life and reputation, on early modern London, and on the varied theatres of the English Renaissance. Extensively illustrated, it incorporates much new information on Middleton's life, canon, texts, and contexts; twenty percent of the works included have never before been annotated. A self-consciously 'federal edition', The Collected Works applies postmodernist theory to editorial practice; its unusual features are described and explained in "How to Use This Book."

Thomas Middleton and Early Modern Textual Culture: A Companion to The Collected Works. Because Middleton is more representative than any of his contemporaries of the full range of textual practices in early modern England, his works provide an ideal focus for understanding the history of the book, and its relation to the larger history of culture, in this pivotal period. This volume begins, accordingly, with nine original essays placing Middleton's career in the context of larger cultural patterns governing the creation, reproduction, circulation, and reception of texts. These essays are followed by textual introductions and full editorial apparatus for each work in the Collected Works, including an account of evidence for their authorship and date of composition. This combination of detail and context provides a foundation for future studies both of Middleton and of early modern culture.

General editors

Gary Taylor, Director, Department of English, Florida State University

John Lavagnino Centre for Computing in the Humanities, King's College, University of London